However, even if they were able to avoid danger, there were a lot of parents with their small children and elderly in the close to 200 people who were escaping to the city of Warren, so it was still difficult to outrun the ants.
“Kuh, Ares, they’re coming!”
“Yeah, I see ‘em, Zachs!!”
A few moments after they left the village, the two warriors, along with the other Adventurers and the local guards, drew their weapons while the escaping villagers ran for cover and scowled at the Valley Ants who chased after them by relying on their antennae and combined detection abilities.
“U~, these guys are probably the ones left after raiding the village, but…”
It is natural for the Valley Ants to take their captured prey back to the colony, so most individuals might have gone back while carrying the sacks of grain or the livestock they have broken down with their strong mandibles. But even with the reduced number, the red-haired Mage frowned as she still saw more than 50 giant ants chasing after them.
“Uu, it’s impossible, but…”
“Ms. Muriel, let’s just try not to die, okay?”
While implying that they should escape when push comes to shove, the petite Mage, Eina, raised her wand which was clad in wind-type magic. A beat later, the red-haired Mage also raised her evergreen oak wand and activated her fire-attribute magic.
“O Ancient Flames, crush thy enemies, Fire Pellets!”
“Tear them to pieces, Endless Wind Blades!”
As soon as the vanguard Valley Ants entered the spells’ area of effect, the vanguards from the Adventurers’ side vacated the area, and the Mages both fired intermediate-level offense magic.
“Gi, giu!?”
“G-gigii… Gih.”
Multiple wind blades ran through and cut off the legs of two ants in one strike, and the giant ants, unable to support their weight, collapsed head-first into the ground.
Meanwhile, next to them, countless fire bullets rained down and pierced three of the giant ants which burned them from the inside, but… the attacks continued.
After firing the initial attacks, the two mages immediately withdrew to the back of the formation when the other giant ants walked over the corpses of their fallen brethren and attempted to close in on them.
As a side note, only a few people are as dexterous as a certain wolfdog man who can both fight on the front lines and cast magic when they get the right chance, so it’s not a feat that Muriel and other normal mages can easily pull.
And so, it is the job of the vanguards to directly engage the opponent. While dodging the giant ants that were rushing at him, Ares swung his Longsword with all his might and lopped off the 3 legs of a giant ant.
“GIIIH, GIIIIIIH!!”
As the giant ant cried as it fell to the ground, Mirea aimed at it while it was struggling with its last leg and released a finishing shot from a short distance that completely stopped its movement.
Using her wide field of vision to observe the situation, she saw Riberto cut off one of the vanguard giant ants’ hard, spear-like antennas with the Saber in his right hand and another giant ant on the brow with his Parrying Dagger on the left as it tried to bite off his throat.
“W-we’re outnumbered!!”
Riberto placed one of his feet on the immobile giant ant’s head, pulled out his beloved Dagger from it, and backed away from the approaching giant ants.
Adventurers who are used to fighting just like him and Zachs do not force themselves to continue fighting, but instead back away to reduce the momentum of their opponents. However, unlike them, the case was not the same for the inexperienced local guards who were fighting the giant ants with them.
Even though they tried to fight off the giant ants from the beginning, they couldn’t dispose of the monsters fast enough so they ended up being surrounded in no time.
“Gi, gigiih!”
“Uwah, h-help!! Ah, it ate my leg, hih, gah”
Unable to react in time to a bite attack from the side, a local guard whose left leg had been bitten off by the giant ant’s strong mandibles collapsed, and another ant cornered him and ripped off his throat.
“U, uwaaaah, die, you bastard!!”
Meanwhile, a panic-stricken guard nearby haphazardly struck out his iron spear and accidentally pierced the head of the giant ant that killed his comrade, but…
“Gio… gii…h, gi…”
“Ha, haha, serves you right, gubuh!?”
For a moment, the man’s expression relaxed, but since he was also pierced by the ant’s sharp antennae from his flank to his belly, he spurted out blood when it was pulled out of him. He let go of his spear and tried to put pressure on his abdomen, but it was no use since they were surrounded. As soon as he fell on his knees, the giant ants swarmed towards him and disappeared.
Once the ants had broken through the local guards, the fleeing residents of Grau village were unable to do anything, and screams rose all over the place.
“Tsk, Zachs!”
“Kuh, I know!!”
In response to the chestnut-haired warrior’s call, the rugged-looking warrior kicked the Valiant Soldier in the face as it came close to biting him, and finished it off with a two-handed sword strike without pause.
But even though the Adventurers were fighting hard to fend them off, the giant ants found them too troublesome to deal with and ignored them and turned their attention to the fleeing villagers instead.
“Kyaaaah, uwah, ow, sto–, help, uwa…”
“Gobuh, gohah…”
“Uu, uwaa, uu…”
The unfortunate victims that were bitten by the giant ants cried, and the gory sight set off a chain of panic and screams. Amid the chaos, Mirea had gone down to provide logistical support and surveyed the scene, and spotted a small child who had tripped on the uneven grassland.
“N-noo, somebody, my daughter!”
“Kuh, stand back!”
Upon hearing the mother’s pleas, she drew out her bow with small movements and used her arrows to shoot at the approaching giant ants. She shot two arrows in rapid succession, and just as she was about to release a sigh of relief when she saw the mother had gotten safely to her child, a familiar voice called out to her.
“Mirea!!”
The other person was screaming to warn her though, as one of the soldier-type ants opened its jaws and let out a battle cry when she turned around.
“UKYAAAAAAH!”
As soon as she saw this, Mirea thrust out her right hand to keep its head from reaching her. But as she tried to forcibly twist away her body to keep herself from being severely injured, an unpleasant breaking sound from her fingertips and arm reached her ears.
But even with all the effort, she was only able to keep herself from getting caught in its strong jaws, and Mirea was flung away as soon as she came in contact with the soldier ant’s body.
“Kahah, kuu, aa… uu”
“Eina, we need support!!”
As she lay on the ground groaning and moaning in pain, a worried Muriel rushed to her side, and Eina, who followed behind her, raised her hand and cast a spell to fight off one of the aggressively approaching ants.
“Dance, Ring Blade Gales!”
The condensed wind on her palm formed two small, circular rings, and the twin blades flew towards its targets in arcs and tore them to pieces.
“Giih, giiiiiiiih… Gi, gii…”
A few moments later, after Eina confirmed that the giant ants who were struggling to escape her Ring Blade Gales had all died already, she approached Muriel and applied healing magic on Mirea while staying vigilant of their surroundings.
“… You can’t fight in that condition anymore, you know.”
“S-sorry, ugh.”
“… It’s fine, there are only a few Valley Ants now anyway.”
Just as the red-haired mage said, there were only a few of the giant ants who were still baring their fangs at them, but it did not mean that the Adventurers had been successful in beating them back; it only meant that most of the ants that had attacked the village had simply taken the prey and most of the stocked food and returned to their colony.
Be that as it may, they were only able to kill about 20 of the ants lying on the western plains of Grau village, and while the battle fought by the Adventurers and local guards resulted in the loss of more than half of the guards, it was undeniable that they were able to decrease the number of human casualties in the village.
(This is fine for now, but I can’t say it’s enough…)
With a feeling of inadequacy in her heart, Muriel protected the injured Mirea while Ares continued to cut down the giant ants that had stayed until the end, and the battle that ensued while the residents were fleeing from Grau village came to an end and caused about 40 casualties.
Over the next two days, the surviving villagers from Grau village arrived at the city of Warren, and the threat of the Valley Ants became clear. After receiving reports of the damage caused by the monsters, the lord of Ferias made arrangements to send out his troops, but at the same time, he also issued a special commission which had caused the current restless atmosphere in the local Adventurer’s Guild.
Meanwhile, only a few people had noticed the silver-haired man who was accompanied by a small fox on his shoulder as he wandered inside the guild where various people were fervently trying to make a name for themselves while some looked around coldly.
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